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Larkeicus
Larkeicus is an elderly Clavat and the main antagonist of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. Story Prologue Larkeicus is an immortal Clavat who gained his power 2000 years ago when he was hunting Crystals. He was once a respected scientist and had a Yuke named Veriaulde as his apprentice, creating machines powered by crystals. The power and efficiency of his machines led to a great civilization being built based on his inventions that allowed people to live with untold wealth and comfort, and as Veriaulde put it, Larkeicus was "worshiped like a god." One day the crystals began vanishing sending the civilization into panic. Without the crystals, the civilization began to crumble, and its citizens collectively blamed what was happening on Larkeicus. The scientist began a mad search for more crystals, and in time learned that while the other crystals were disappearing, one crystal had suddenly appeared in a Forest. Veriaulde accompanied his master in pursuing the crystal, and according to him they had only intended to "investigate" it. Instead, Larkeicus killed the inhabitants of the village in the forest. When Veriaulde attempted to stop his master, he was struck down. The only survivor was Sherlotta who ran to the Crystal Core in the forest, followed by a sleek black cat. Larkeicus pursued her, and the Crystal reacted to their presence. Sherlotta was given immortality and ability to spontaneously generate Crystals. Larkeicus found that the crystal rejected him, would not power his machines, and harmed him. To the archaeologist his crystal was, as Sherlotta later words it, "worse then useless" to him. Since Sherlotta could now generate crystals he still had gained something out of the attack. Larkeicus captured Sherlotta and conducted experiments on both her and his student, Veriaulde. As an infinite source of crystals, Sherlotta could be used to help Larkeicus obtain immortality. Unbeknownst to him, however, the crystal's power had affected the nearby cat from the town. Sherlotta transferred her consciousness to the cat and used it as a substitute body and her actual body became a lifeless puppet that could do nothing but create as many crystals as Larkeicus wanted. The experiments on Veriaulde transformed the Yuke into a monster whenever he was exposed to crystals. Over time, Larkeicus concluded that the reasons for the crystals' disappearance was caused by a shockwave from the future. He decided to make preparations to stop it and calculated that whatever sparked the shockwave occurred far into the sky, and thus started plans to build a tower to reach the point where the shockwave originated. Master Librarian 2,000 years later, the civilization he built having devolved into a simple curiosity for archaeologists and treasure hunters, Larkeicus hunts in the Library for further research on the crystals disappearance. The hero first meets Larkeicus there while looking for the crystal sickness cure for Eryll. The townspeople hold him in high esteem, referring to the Clavat as a "respected archeologist." Larkeicus agrees to brew this panacea if a Buffasaur horn is brought to him. After the horn is retrieved from the Aqueducts, the old man finishes the cure and gives it to the hero with the stipulation that some work must be done for him as payment. The medicine is brought back to the Forest, and Eryll is saved. The hero returns to Town in order to pay back Larkeicus, who reveals the location of Ice Mountain and asks the hero to repair the ruins found there, along with those at Fire Mountain. As each ruin is fixed, it rises higher into the air atop a majestic pillar. The hero returns to the Library after the Fire Mountain pillar arises, and is thanked and dismissed back to the Forest by Larkeicus. That same night, the archeologist ascends to the top of Ice Mountain and triggers a field of energy around the ruins at its zenith. The ruins atop both peaks fire a blinding beam of light at each other, meeting in midair and causing the Tower to materialize beyond the Gate. The hero is sleeping and is unaware of the old man's schemes; however, the crystal in the Forest begins to shatter. Sherlotta, who had been staying in the same hut as the hero, reacts adversely to the crystal's breaking, and as it splinters, she shifts her conscience into the cat. The next morning, the hero awakens, unaware of the calamity that has just occurred. The black cat appears and runs off into the forest, with the hero in pursuit. At the placid pond, the crystal lies rent into tiny pieces, with only a faint bead of light at its nucleus. Eryll is there and asks the hero to gather the shards of the Crystal Core in order to restore the crystal and the village residents, who have all mysteriously vanished except for the hero and Norschtalen. Following a suggestion from Norschtalen that an archeologist might know what's going on. The Hero returns to the library and meets Larkeicus again, Larkeicus describes the history of the ancient civilization, and how it was destroyed because the crystals disappeared. Larkeicus notes the irony of this, because if it weren't for the crystals what he was trying to do couldn't be done, following this, he summons several minions and attempts to kill the Hero, but is instead killed himself. However, being immortal, the fact that he "died" was of little meaning, and when exposed to the Hero's fragment of the Crystal Core he is revived, and proceeds to taunt the Hero over the fact that the Hero wasn't familiar with immortality. This did not go on for long, however, as the crystal that revived him begins to harm him, alarmed, he throws the crystal away from him, and warns the Hero that if the Hero was the one who causes the shockwave from the future, then the Hero would die the next time they met, saying this, Larkeicus warps out of the library. Final Battle Larkeicus does not reappear until the very end of the game, at the top of the Tower. He appears immediately following Sherlotta's request for the Hero to kill her true body, which was being kept at the top of the tower for Larkeicus's crystal generating needs. Because if she is dead then no more crystals can be created, and Larkeicus's plan cannot be completed, Larkeicus stops this before anything can come out of it, and argues with Sherlotta over the exact nature of the crystal's disappearance, Sherlotta stating that they disappeared because the world was ruled by corruption, whereas Larkeicus insists that the disappearance was scientific in nature, Larkeicus then denounces Sherlotta's faith based argument, and insists that his argument is the accurate one. Following this, Larkeicus absorbs a large amount of crystals from Sherlotta's lifeless real body, and attacks the Hero, but is defeated. Larkeicus applauds the Hero's strength, but notes that he was prepared for such resistance, and turns and absorbs a large amount of crystals from the real Sherlotta, transforming into a new monstrous form, and transporting himself and the Hero to an otherworldly arena to fight, despite this power, Larkeicus is defeated again, and regresses back to his human form. Surprised, but not concerned, Larkeicus states that no matter what, it is impossible to defeat him, because as long as he has the puppet Sherlotta, he has access to an unlimited supply of crystals to revive and empower him. Sherlotta attempts to attack him but is swiftly knocked to the ground, and once again absorbs crystals from her, so many crystals that Sherlotta loses her hold on the body of the cat that she was using. Larkeicus believes his victory to be guaranteed, but with her loss of control over the cat's body, Sherlotta's consciousness returns to her actual body, grabbing Larkeicus from behind, Larkeicus yells that she's only a crystal-generating puppet, in response Sherlotta generates a large crystal, the exact same crystal that appeared in the forest 2,000 years ago, both Sherlotta and Larkeicus realize that the reason that that one crystal suddenly appeared when the others were disappearing was because Sherlotta had made it 2,000 years in the future. At Sherlotta's insistence, the Hero shatters the crystal to Larkeicus's chagrin, Sherlotta notes that Larkeicus was correct in believing that the crystals disappeared by the actions of the future, and asks Larkeicus if he ever wondered why the shockwave originated so far off the ground. Larkeicus realizes that she's referring to the Tower, and Sherlotta observes that it's unlikely something could have happened this far above the ground without the Tower. Sherlotta states that the actions of the Hero were not the cause of the shockwave from the future, rather, it was Larkeicus's obsession to save the crystals that led to their disappearance. Larkeicus refuses to accept this, insisting that he couldn't be the cause, but this proved to be of little importance anymore, the crystal completely crumbles and sucks Larkeicus and the Tower into it, and the crystal is transported backward in time 2,000 years. Gameplay Larkeicus is fought three times during the storyline, first at the Library, then at the Tower. After the fight at the Tower, he transforms into Neo Larkeicus, the final boss. Voice Larkeicus is voiced by Rokuro Naya in Japanese version and by William Frederick Knight in the English version, where he speaks with a distinct German accent (he pronounces his "w"s as "v"s). Other appearances ''Final Fantasy Trading Card Game Larkeicus appears in ''Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. Larkeicus TCG.png|Trading card. Larkeicus3 TCG.png|Trading card. Gallery EoT Larkeicus Portrait 2.png|Larkeicus's smiling sprite. EoT Larkeicus Portrait 3.png|Larkeicus's smiling sprite (2). EoT Larkeicus Portrait 4.png|Larkeicus's angry sprite. EoT Larkeicus Portrait 5.png|Larkeicus's final form sprite. Avatar Larkeicus.png|Square Enix Members avatar. Category:Characters in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time Category:Antagonists